Exodus 23; Exodus 24; 1 Peter 4

1"Do not spread false reports. Do not help a wicked man by being a malicious witness.2"Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong. When you give testimony in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd,3and do not show favoritism to a poor man in his lawsuit.4"If you come across your enemy's ox or donkey wandering off, be sure to take it back to him.5If you see the donkey of someone who hates you fallen down under its load, do not leave it there; be sure you help him with it.6"Do not deny justice to your poor people in their lawsuits.7Have nothing to do with a false charge and do not put an innocent or honest person to death, for I will not acquit the guilty.8"Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds those who see and twists the words of the righteous.9"Do not oppress an alien; you yourselves know how it feels to be aliens, because you were aliens in Egypt.10"For six years you are to sow your fields and harvest the crops,11but during the seventh year let the land lie unplowed and unused. Then the poor among your people may get food from it, and the wild animals may eat what they leave. Do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove.12"Six days do your work, but on the seventh day do not work, so that your ox and your donkey may rest and the slave born in your household, and the alien as well, may be refreshed.13"Be careful to do everything I have said to you. Do not invoke the names of other gods; do not let them be heard on your lips.14"Three times a year you are to celebrate a festival to me15"Celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread; for seven days eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you. Do this at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in that month you came out of Egypt. "No one is to appear before me empty-handed.16"Celebrate the Feast of Harvest with the firstfruits of the crops you sow in your field. "Celebrate the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in your crops from the field.17"Three times a year all the men are to appear before the Sovereign LORD.18"Do not offer the blood of a sacrifice to me along with anything containing yeast. "The fat of my festival offerings must not be kept until morning.19"Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the LORD your God. "Do not cook a young goat in its mother's milk.20"See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared.21Pay attention to him and listen to what he says. Do not rebel against him; he will not forgive your rebellion, since my Name is in him22If you listen carefully to what he says and do all that I say, I will be an enemy to your enemies and will oppose those who oppose you.23My angel will go ahead of you and bring you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites and Jebusites, and I will wipe them out.24Do not bow down before their gods or worship them or follow their practices. You must demolish them and break their sacred stones to pieces.25Worship the LORD your God, and his blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among you,26and none will miscarry or be barren in your land. I will give you a full life span.27"I will send my terror ahead of you and throw into confusion every nation you encounter. I will make all your enemies turn their backs and run.28I will send the hornet ahead of you to drive the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites out of your way.29But I will not drive them out in a single year, because the land would become desolate and the wild animals too numerous for you.30Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land.31"I will establish your borders from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the desert to the River. I will hand over to you the people who live in the land and you will drive them out before you.32Do not make a covenant with them or with their gods.33Do not let them live in your land, or they will cause you to sin against me, because the worship of their gods will certainly be a snare to you."

1Then he said to Moses, "Come up to the LORD, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel. You are to worship at a distance,2but Moses alone is to approach the LORD; the others must not come near. And the people may not come up with him."3When Moses went and told the people all the LORD's words and laws, they responded with one voice, "Everything the LORD has said we will do."4Moses then wrote down everything the LORD had said. He got up early the next morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain and set up twelve stone pillars representing the twelve tribes of Israel.5Then he sent young Israelite men, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as fellowship offerings to the LORD.6Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and the other half he sprinkled on the altar.7Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. They responded, "We will do everything the LORD has said; we will obey."8Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, "This is the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words."9Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up10and saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement made of sapphire, clear as the sky itself.11But God did not raise his hand against these leaders of the Israelites; they saw God, and they ate and drank.12The LORD said to Moses, "Come up to me on the mountain and stay here, and I will give you the tablets of stone, with the law and commands I have written for their instruction."13Then Moses set out with Joshua his aide, and Moses went up on the mountain of God.14He said to the elders, "Wait here for us until we come back to you. Aaron and Hur are with you, and anyone involved in a dispute can go to them."15When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it,16and the glory of the LORD settled on Mount Sinai. For six days the cloud covered the mountain, and on the seventh day the LORD called to Moses from within the cloud.17To the Israelites the glory of the LORD looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain.18Then Moses entered the cloud as he went on up the mountain. And he stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

1Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin.2As a result, he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God.3For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do--living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry.4They think it strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation, and they heap abuse on you.5But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.6For this is the reason the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead, so that they might be judged according to men in regard to the body, but live according to God in regard to the spirit.7The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray.8Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.9Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.10Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms.11If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.12Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you.13But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.14If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.15If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler.16However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name.17For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God?18And, "If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?"19So then, those who suffer according to God's will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.